Mahela Jayawardene is also joint fourth in the all-time list for double centuries in Tests.

Mahela Jayawardene reached one milestone after another as Bangladesh were drowned in a deluge of runs. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at the two major milestones Jayawardene conquered during his innings at Mirpur.

For a long period of time Allan Border was the leading run-scorer in the sport. His place got usurped by Brian Lara, and subsequently by Sachin Tendulkar, who now holds the mantle. The next three — The Millennium Triplets — have finished with almost identical numbers, and resting smugly at fifth place is Lara himself.

Quietly, with almost anyone noticing, Mahela Jayawardene has moved up to the sixth spot during his amazing double-hundred at Mirpur. Having gone past the 11,000-run mark before the innings, Mahela went past Border and Shivnarine Chanderpaul on either side of tea during a 175-ball unbeaten partnership of 176 with Kithuruwan Vithanage.

Top batsmen (runs)

M

I

NO

R

Ave

100

50

Sachin Tendulkar

200

329

33

15,921

53.79

51

68

Ricky Ponting

168

287

29

13,378

51.85

41

62

Jacques Kallis

166

280

40

13,289

55.37

45

58

Rahul Dravid

164

286

32

13,288

52.31

36

63

Brian Lara

131

232

6

11,953

52.89

34

48

Mahela Jayawardene

142

238

15

11,222

50.32

33

45

Shivnarine Chanderpaul

153

261

45

11,219

51.94

29

62

Allan Border

156

265

44

11,174

50.56

27

63

Steve Waugh

168

260

46

10,927

51.06

32

50

Kumar Sangakkara

121

207

17

10,727

56.46

33

45

Updated till end of Sri Lankan first innings

Going past Chanderpaul also meant that Jayawardene became the leading run-scorer among the current players. Of the others, his teammate and close friend Kumar Sangakkara is in hot pursuit, but the others are quite some distance away. In fact, Jayawardene and Sangakkara are the only current batsmen who have gone past the coveted five-figure mark.

Top current batsmen (runs)

M

I

NO

R

Ave

100

50

Mahela Jayawardene

142

238

15

11,222

50.32

33

45

Shivnarine Chanderpaul

153

261

45

11,219

51.94

29

62

Kumar Sangakkara

121

207

17

10,727

56.46

33

45

Graeme Smith

114

199

13

9,220

49.57

27

38

Virender Sehwag

104

180

6

8,586

49.34

23

32

Kevin Pietersen

104

181

8

8,181

47.29

23

35

Alastair Cook

102

183

10

8,047

46.51

25

35

Michael Clarke

102

174

18

8,019

51.40

26

27

Younis Khan

89

158

14

7,399

51.38

23

28

Chris Gayle

99

174

9

6,933

42.02

15

34

Updated till end of Sri Lankan first innings

The other Jayawardene record that went almost unnoticed was the fact that the double-hundred was the seventh of his career, which put him at par with Wally Hammond. Hammond and Jayawardene hold are joint fourth on the list, behind Don Bradman, Lara, and Sangakkara.